Improvement in combined step and extension ladder



, J. HILL.

Combined Step and Extension Ladder.

No. 218,742. Patented Aug. 19,1879.

WITNESSES ILFETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAFNER wnsmmnou o C UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

JAMES HILL, OF WILKESBARRE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMBINED STEP AND EXTENSION LADDER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 218.742, dated August 19, 1879; application filed July 9, 1879.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AMEs HILL, of Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oombined Step and Extension Ladder, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to certain improvements in combined step and extension ladders; the ob ject of my improvements being to so combine a pivoted shelf with the main ladder that its arms will serve to lock the supplementary section when used either as a brace for the main ladder or as an extension of the same.

This object I attain in the manner which I will now proceed to describe, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of my improved ladder in the form of an extension -ladder; Fig. 2, the same in the form of a stepladder; Fig. 3, a vertical section of the extensionladder; Fig. 4, a vertical section of the step-ladder; and Fig. 5, a sectional plan on the line 1 2, Fig. 4.

A is the main ladder, consisting of the usual side rails, a, and steps b, and B is the supplementary section, consisting of side rails, 07, and rounds e.

Secured to each of the side rails, a, of the ladder A, some distance below the top of the same, is a plate, f, these plates projecting rearwardly, and having at the ends lugs i, a transverse rod, m, extending from the lug of one plate to that of the other, and serving as a pivot for the arms n n of a shelf, g. The front ends of these arms rest upon a transverse bar, 1), of the ladder A, and when the section B is used as an extension of said ladder A, the arms We serve as supports for one of the rounds of the section B, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and thus maintain said section B in its proper vertical position.

When used as a step-ladder, the arms at engage with the uppermost round of the section B, as in Figs. 2 and 4, and lock the said section in the inclined position shown.

The lugs i on the plates f serve to hold the section B properly up to the ladder A, and lateral movement of said section independently of the ladder A is prevented, partly by the plate f and partly by the arms at.

In order to permit the use of the section B in either of its two positions in respect to the ladder A, the inner faces of the lugs i'are curved, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and with the view of preventing the round of the section B from slipping off of the arms n, the ends of the latter are enlarged, as shown at 8, Figs. 3 and 4.

In some cases the rod 10 on the ladderA may be dispensed with, and the front ends of the arms n may rest directly on one of the steps b of the ladder A.

I claim as my invention- I 1. The combination of the ladder A, its steps b and plates f, the section B and its rounds e, and the shelf-arms n, arranged as described, so as to lock the section B in position either as a brace for the ladder A, or as an extension for the same, as set forth.

2. The combination of the ladder A, the section B, and the shelf-arms 1, having enlarged front ends, .9, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES HILL.

Witnesses:

ALLAN H. DIoKsoN, W. S. PARSONS. 

